The Meaning of the Word "Church"

The Greek word ekklēsia, which is variously translated church, assembly, or congregation, is found with seven different shades of meaning in the New Testament. Perhaps the one that people often think of can be called the universal church, that is, all the people who are saved throughout the whole world throughout the whole Christian age. That meaning is found in passages such as Matt. 16:18 ("I will build my church") and Eph. 1:22-23; 5:23 ("Christ is head of the church, his body"). That assembly will take place only when Jesus comes again (2 Thess. 2:1). A second meaning might be called the regional church, that is, the universal church at a particular time in a particular region. We find that in Acts 9:31 ("the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria"). There is a later textual variant in this passage that changes the singular "church" to the more common plural "churches," referring to local churches in the region. The KJV follows this variant. While the regional meaning seems to be found only in Acts 9:31, the third meaning of local church or local congregation is quite common. This refers to the people who are saved in a particular locality. This is found in passages such as Acts 14:23 ("appointed elders for them in every church"), Rom. 16:1, 1 Cor. 1:2, 2 Cor. 8:1, and Col. 4:16. A similar meaning, the fourth, is that of house church. In passages such as Romans 16:5 ("the church in their house") and Col. 4:15, the word refers to the saved people who assemble at a house. It is difficult to say which of these last two meanings are similar to what we today call a local congregation. In the city of Corinth, the whole church met in the house of Gaius (Rom. 16:23). On the other hand, although several groups (house churches) are greeted by Paul in Romans 16:3-15, he never addresses this letter to the "church" at Rome. It is addressed rather to those at Rome who are "called to be saints." It would seem that the large city of Rome had several congregations, but they were not viewed as a single church. The fifth meaning is found in Acts 7:38 ("the congregation in the wilderness"); it is a reference to the people of Israel assembled in the wilderness after they crossed the Red Sea. Actually, the Greek word ekklēsia is found in the Greek Old Testament (LXX) over one hundred times, so it is no surprise for Stephen to use the word in this way. All of these five usages refer to people who assemble. Although in English we use the word "church" to refer to a building or a denomination, the word is never used in these senses in the New Testament. A denomination is a collection of local congregations, not a collection of people. A church in the New Testament sense is always about people. It is not biblical to use the word "church" to refer to a group of congregations. But besides using the term "church" for people who assemble, it is also used of an assembly of people, a collective use if you will. It is found in a sixth meaning of a non-religious assembly. Luke uses the word in this sense in Acts 19:32, 39, 41 of the unlawful assembly at Ephesus in the theater. The seventh and final meaning is of a Christian assembly. Paul uses the word "church" in this sense five times in 1 Cor. 11:18; 14:19, 28, 34, 35. This sense is also found in Hebrews 2:12, a quotation from Ps. 22:22. Sometimes we hear people say, "Don't say, 'I am going to church'; say, 'I am going to worship.'" The irony of this saying is that "I am going to church" means "I am going to the assembly," a biblical meaning; on the other hand, the word "worship" is never used of the assembly in the New Testament. The closest New Testament passage that uses the word "worship" in the assembly is 1 Cor. 14:24-25 where an unbeliever who is convicted of his sin by prophecy falls down and worships God. Worship for a disciple of Jesus is a whole life experience (Romans 12:1); while the Christian life includes the assembly, true worship is much more than what takes place at church. As a participant in God's church, let us live our lives every day in a way of worship that honors Him.